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Scuderia Ambrosiana
1930s Scuderia Amborosiana was founded in 1937 by three racing car drivers, Giovanni Lurani, Franco Cortese and Luigi Villoresi. The team ran Maserati race cars thanks to Villoresi's partnership with the works Maserati team. Lurani and Cortese raced for the team full time unlike Villoresi who had committements to racing in the works Maserati team, who was only a part time driver. Lurani however ended his racing career permanently in 1938 due to an accident in his Maserati car while racing at the British Crystal Palace race circuit. Lurani after retiring from racing turned tomanaging the Scuderia Amborosiana instead. 1940s After World War II ended in 1945, the Ambrosiana team began to change after the wars end in 1946, Cortese left the team in 1947 to help Enzo Ferrari on development for the new Ferrari team that was to enter racing in 1949. Villoresi was still only a part time driver as he continued to race for the works Maserati team after World War II. Lurani instead employed, David Hampshire a British motorist to replace Cortese at the team as a full time driver. Villoresi also left the team as well as the Maserati works team to go race for Ferrari as well, in 1949. Lurani then replaced him with another Brit called David Murray. 1950s and Formula One In 1950, David Hampshire won the teams first major race in Britain at the Nottingham Trophy. This victory inspired the team to enter into the first ever race of the Formula One World Championship at Silverstone at the British Grand Prix with Hampshire and Murray at the wheel. The cars were uncompetitive however and Hampshire finished a disappointing 9th with Murray retiring. For most of the season Ambrosiana raced in Formula 2 where their drivers had some success in but returned at the French Grand Prix at the penultimate round of the championship. Murray was unable to attend and so British Driver Reg Parnell filled in for him at the race along side Hampshire. It was another disappointment for the team as both cars retired in the race. At the final round of the championship, Murray was back with Hampshire for the last round of the championship however once again reliability issues sent them out of the race again. For 1951, an old face returned to the team that being of founder Franco Cortese who had ended his Ferrari partnership in 1950, however at the age of 48 Cortese was nearing retirement and so became a part time racer in the team, however that didnt stop him from taking a major win at the Targio Florio for Ambrosiana in a Frazer-Nash. The team mainly competed in Formula 2 and non-championship Fomula 1 races during the season with Hampshire and Murray at the wheel with Cortese making an occasional appearance however the team did enter 2 races during the season in the F1 championship with David Murray at the wheel, the first at Britain where he retired and then straight after in Germany however Murray failed to start the race due to damage on his car in a crash during qualifying. In 1952, Cortese finally retired fully from racing and turned to managing the team with Lurani, David Murray had left the team to create his own racing team called Ecurrie Ecosse and so was replaced by Reg Parnell who had made a brief appearance with the team in 1950. Between 1952-53 Ambrosiana made no appearances in championship F1 races and stuck to no-championship and F2 races with Hampshire and Murray at the wheel. In 1953 however the team was close to bankrupt and could no longer afford to use the Maserati chassis anymore and so ended the partnership after 16 years so for the 1954 season they raced with older and cheaper Ferrari chassis instead. The team returned to F1 with Parnell at the wheel however once again the team failed to finish the race at Britain. The team continued to run in F2 and non champ F1 races with Hampshire and Parnell at the wheel until the end of the season before the funds finally dried up and the team closed its doors forever. Parnell continued to race until 1958 with much success however Hampshire finally decided he had enough after the desolution of Ambrosiana and retired from racing. Cortese retired permanently from racing activities in 1956 and Lurani went on to work for the FIA for many years. Category:Entrants Category:Italian Entrants